Good points. One valid point is that HCQ was denied for political reasons. Who knows how many lives could have been saved.
Still, there have been plenty of problems with the vaccines and we know very little about their efficacy. Will we need another booster in 3, 6, 12 months? It may never end. Maybe, if we’re good, we can spend time with other vaccinated family members on July 4th? Nah, we’re going to live as we normally would. We changed nothing through-out the last year other than wear a mask when we had to.
There’s only so much to talk about as we’ve all heard the same thing over and over. From many I’ve discussed the issue, pressuring anybody to get the vaccine will have the opposite effect.
In addition to HCQ, I would highlight Ivermectin (a common and inexpensive prescription drug) that is even more promising. It seems to have made a big difference in Peru, and other places. It seems to have strong effect at all stages of the disease, including as a preventative.
The gold standard for treating serious cases is probably the Regeneron antibody cocktail, that President Trump got. Although it is expensive, the FedGov has funded it, for cases that meet serious criteria.
Efficacy of the vaccines is now well known. The standard three phase trials were conducted, with extra-large sample sizes, and thorough third party review. Beyond that, extensive real world use in multiple countries have confirmed the results of the trials. Most notably, Israel’s largest HMO (Clait) published rigorous results in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine on Pfizer’s vaccine. With over half a million participants receiving the vaccine, painstaking paired against similar controls, they qualified the whole effectiveness curve over time (e.g. how effective 8 days after the first shot, etc.).
The data is in - safe and effective.